


A Rare Dawn

by aurilly



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-27
Updated: 2009-01-27
Packaged: 2017-10-03 00:48:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurilly/pseuds/aurilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While on the Dawn Treader, Edmund and Caspian watch the sun rise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Rare Dawn

"Good morning, sire. I hope you slept well."

Edmund smiled at the mouse. "Very well, thank you. I'm just going up to the lookout for a little while."

Reepicheep's face contorted itself into the expression Edmund had figured out was a smile. "Great minds think alike," he replied, and then went below deck instead of up with him.

Edmund frowned in confusion, but didn't mind much; he liked Reepicheep, but wasn't in the mood for the kind of courtly behavior the mouse always reminded him to keep up. Climbing the ropes in the darkness to the lookout was tricky, and when he reached the top, he almost tripped over Caspian, who was on his knees, peeping over the ledge of the little round lookout.

"Oh! I'm sorry to disturb you. I didn't expect to see anyone here at this hour. I can leave if I am interrupting your alone time." Solitude was difficult to find on the ship, and he didn't want to deprive Caspian of it.

But Caspian simply smiled and patted a spot on the floor next to his knees. "Join me, please."

Edmund settled himself beside Caspian, and they watched the first beams of the sun peer over the horizon, just as they were peering over the lookout ledge.

"I like getting up before the crew and looking towards the East. It inspires me each day as the leader for our journey. I suppose _you_ do this every day, back… where you come from," Caspian said.

Edmund absently replied, "No, almost never."

"Why not? Does your estate face to the west? I'm sure that even if you miss the sunrises, the sunsets are spectacular."

Edmund sighed. In his sleepiness, he'd fallen into Caspian's trap. The young king had always been fascinated by the mysterious land where his friends, the kings and queens of old, lived regularly. No matter how clearly Edmund thought he and his siblings had made it that the Pevensies were as unroyal and unspecial as possible in England, Caspian and the rest of the Narnians seemed unable to process the information. They still assumed that he and Lucy and the rest of them were grand nobility, at the very least. Eustace's spoiled demands and haughty air hadn't helped matters.

On a certain level that he was somewhat embarrassed to admit to himself, Edmund rather liked it this way. He was anything but ashamed of Mother and Father, and he never tried to hide the truth of his origins, but he had grown accustomed to these assumptions, and had stopped wanting to refute them. There was no harm in it, he sometimes thought guiltily.

So this morning, with its perfect, unspoiled Narnian sunrise, should not be tainted by thoughts of London, and the drains, and the bullies at school, and their embarrassing neighbours, and their poky house---and all the things that he thought being a king of Narnia should wipe away, for as long as he was here again. Therefore, Edmund's answer was vague.

"No. We live inland. And the sky is usually quite overcast in our country. Both the dawn and sunsets are usually less than riveting. Which is why it's always such a treat to be in Narnia… or at least, near it."

Caspian took this in. "Well, we'll always be happy to have you, as long as your people can spare you."

Edmund laughed to himself, and continued to stare quietly at the sunrise. "Thanks."


End file.
